It is award season for the electronic music world. The DJ Mag Top 100 poll voting ends this week thankfully and the ads have been minimal beyond the typical Dutch DJs and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike who have gone waaaay out of their way to spend thousands of dollars, enlisting street teams and get celebrity endorsements for a popularity contest. In America there is a smaller poll -- the DJ Times-led Top DJ poll that announced its winner yesterday. One man came out on top that will have purists screaming until they are red in the face. Steve Aoki was crowned as the No. 1 DJ in America, beating out a top five of Kaskade, Diplo, Skrillex and Claude VonStroke.
"I am incredibly humbled and honored to be chosen as this year's winner. First and foremost, I want to thank all my fans for their support over the years. I am so grateful that I continue to have the best fans in the world," says Aoki in a statement.
"I would also like to thank everyone at DJ Times and Pioneer for all the years of support as well as acknowledge all the amazing promoters that book me in great venues and festivals across North America. Words cannot express how appreciative I am of this award and I look forward to pursuing my passion as a DJ for decades to come."
There are constant questions asked of the validity of Aoki's validity as a DJ with his antics as a cake-throwing, champagne spitting, raft-riding showman. But he is still able to pack out festival stages and large venues around the world.
For winning, Aoki will perform a special set at Omnia Nightclub on Oct. 11 and will be presented with a personalized, gold-plated Pioneer DJM-900nexus mixer before the show.
His next album Neon Future Odyssey, which includes his Neon Future I and II albums, plus bonus tracks, will be released that month.
See the top ten of the voting below.
1. Steve Aoki
2. Kaskade
3. Diplo
4. Skrillex
5. Claude VonStroke
6. Dillon Francis
7. Bassnectar
8. Flosstradamus
9. A-Trak
10. Audien
